684
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
Justice O'Connor, with whom The Chief Justice and Justice Kennedy join, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I join Parts I-III and VI of the Court's opinion, and I agree with the plurality's conclusion that States may not impose on Medicaid beneficiaries the burdens of prior authorization in the absence of a countervailing Medicaid purpose, ante, at 662. I part with the plurality because I do not agree that the District Court abused its discretion in enjoining respondents from imposing prior authorization under the Maine Rx Program. Before the District Court, respondents "point[ed] to no Medicaid purpose" served by Maine Rx's prior-authorization requirement. App. to Pet. for Cert. 68 (emphasis in original). This is not surprising. The program is open to all Maine residents, rich and poor. It does not purport to further a Medicaid-related purpose, and it is not tailored to have such an effect. By imposing prior authorization on Maine's Medicaid population to achieve wholly non-Medicaid related goals, Maine Rx "stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives" of the federal Medicaid Act. Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U. S. 52, 67 (1941). I would uphold the District Court's injunction on this basis, and I therefore respectfully dissent from Parts IV, V, and VII of the plurality's opinion.
I
Our ultimate task in analyzing a pre-emption claim is "to determine whether state regulation is consistent with the structure and purpose" of the federal statutory scheme "as a whole." Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Assn., 505 U. S. 88, 98 (1992) (plurality opinion of O'Connor, J.). We look to " 'the provisions of the whole law, and to its object and policy.' " Ibid. (quoting Pilot Life Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux, 481 U. S. 41, 51 (1987)). Our touchstone is Congress' intent. Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Assn., supra, at 96. "The nature of the power exerted by
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